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Heracles
---- ---- In ancient Greek religion, Heracles was a mythological divine hero and son of Zeus and Alcmena, foster-son of Amphitryon, and great-grandson of Perseus. He was the greatest of the Greek heroes, a paragon of masculinity, the ancestor of royal clans who claimed to be Heracleidae (Ἡρακλεῖδαι) and a champion of the Olympian order against chthonic monsters. In Rome and the modern West, he is known as Hercules, with whom the later Roman Emperors, in particular Commodus and Maximian, often identified themselves. The Romans adopted the Greek version of his life and works essentially unchanged, but added anecdotal detail of their own, some of it linking the hero with the geography of the Central Mediterranean. Details of his cult were adapted to Rome as well. Extraordinary strength, courage, ingenuity, and sexual prowess with both males and females were among his characteristic attributes. Heracles used his wits on several occasions when his strength did not suffice, such as when laboring for the king Augeas of Elis, wrestling the giant Antaeus, or tricking Atlas into taking the sky back onto his shoulders. Together with Hermes he was the patron and protector of gymnasia and palaestrae.Pausanias, Guide to Greece, 4.32.1 His iconographic attributes are the lion skin and the club. These qualities did not prevent him from being regarded as a playful figure who used games to relax from his labors and played a great deal with children.Aelian, Varia Historia, 12.15 By conquering dangerous archaic forces he is said to have "made the world safe for mankind" and to be its benefactor.Aelian, Varia Historia, 12.15 Heracles was an extremely passionate and emotional individual, capable of doing both great deeds for his friends (such as wrestling with Thanatos on behalf of Prince Admetus, who had regaled Heracles with his hospitality, or restoring his friend Tyndareus to the throne of Sparta after he was overthrown) and being a terrible enemy who would wreak horrible vengeance on those who crossed him, as Augeas, Neleus and Laomedon all found out to their cost. Name Heracles was born AlcaeusSchmitz, Leonhard (1867). "Alceides". In William Smith. Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology 1. Boston: Little, Brown and Company. p. 98. or AlcidesBibliotheca ii. 4. § 12 but was renamed Heracles ("the glory of Hera") by Zeus in an attempt to appease Hera after his illegitimate affair. Ancient Greek Ἡρακλῆς (Herakles) is apparently from Ἥρα (Hēra, “Hera”) + κλέος (kleos, “glory”). Cult Heracles was worshipped as the divine protector of mankind. He had a large number of shrines scattered throughout the ancient world and festivals were widely celebrated in his honour. His main cult centre was at Thebes, his place of birth according to myth. The ancient Greeks celebrated the festival of the Heracleia, which commemorated the death of Heracles, on the second day of the month of Metageitnion (which would fall in late July or early August). What is believed to be an Egyptian Temple of Heracles in the Bahariya Oasis dates to 21 BC. Regional Cults Many regional cults dedicated to Heracles existed throught Greece. Walter Burkert attributes the number of these cults to the fact that there are so many versions (and no established chronology) of the twelve labors. Because there were so many different cults, some worshipped Herakles as a hero and some as a god. The fact that Herakles can be associated with a number of non-Greek gods, whether by a similarity of labors or physical appearance, may also contribute to the variety of cults. As a healer and protector One of Heracles' most popular epithets was “Kallinikos” meaning “the triumphant”. Inscriptions of “Kallinikos” on several Greek buildings revere Heracles as a protector against evil spirits. Similar inscriptions were found on houses in Pompeii and in Thasos and Egypt: “Herakleis,” translated as “Heracles save us” and “Apotropaios,” translated as “averter of evil.” W.K.C. Guthrie comments on the Greeks’ belief in Heracles and cult worship, stating that for the Greeks, Herakles was a man who died and rose to Mt. Olympus were he was then a god. The most important part of the transformation is that he was first looked at as a man. As a fertility deity The are several stories of Heracles increasing the fertility of the land. According to Pausanias, Heracles opened the subterranean outlets of Lake Phineus in Arcadia, while according to Diodoros, he filled up the outlet of the Lake Phineus. Consequently he made the land more fertile. This motif is also reflected in Heracles’ fifth labor, which was to clean the Augean stables. Augeas, king of Elis, had a herd of three thousand oxen, whose stalls had not been cleaned for thirty years. Heracles brought the rivers Alpheus and Peneus through them, and cleaned them in one day. The result made a great fertilizer for the surrounding countryside. Duality of Heracles In ancient Greece there were two different views of Heracles; one as a god and the other as a hero. Modern scholars have had problems trying to identify which Heracles was worshipped by different regional cults. Archeologists have found proof of dual worship in inscriptions on buildings and in literature. Some primary sources like Pausanias record double worship of Heracles. Describing the sacrifice, performed at the shrine of Heracles in Sikyon, Pausanias writes, “They say that Phaistos came to Sikyon and found them making an offerings to Heracles as to a hero. He Phaistos did not think it right to do anything of this sort, but rather to sacrifice to him as a god. And to this day the Sikyonians have slain a lamb and roasted the thighs on the altar, they eat some of the meat as form a sacrifice and offer the rest as to a hero. Heracles in myth Birth References